How tough is army basic training?

Question

I have done 6 months in jail and am now on probation so I've been told I wouldn't get in but if I did ...

How tough is basic training - have heard it's easier now than it was? I'm 21, fit enough but I smoke, drink a bit. No drugs.

How many hours are you 'trained for'? Is it constant pressure or do you get some time out? What can they do if you f**k up?

Thanks

Answer 1

I was in the Army and I went through Basic Training at Fort Jackson in 2002. It's a high stress environment, there's no doubt. If you are looking for direction in life and some self-discipline, you should really do it. I think everyone in the US should. There's nothing like realizing how much you take life for granted until you have your freedom and everything you own taken from you in training and you gain it back after basic and AIT.

Training is hard, because it's all day, but you get used to it real quick. If you screw up, they can't physically beat you, but you might have to "beat your face" by doing pushups forever. They'll scream at you all the time too.

If you chose to join up, you won't regret it. You'll be a better person for it. It will probably change your outlook on life and give you something to be proud of. It doesn't last forever. Basic is 9 weeks and your AIT (job speciality training) is anywhere from 2 wks to 1 year. After that, depending on your enlistment contract, you'll be in until it's time to "re-up" your contract.

So, overall, basic is tough, but it's 80% mental, 20% physical. You may get holidays off to rest, but you still have your drill sgts there. Sundays are pretty much for cleaning and some down time, but not all day. It all depends on the Company and your Drills.

Good luck. I hope you chose to follow a promising path for yourself.

Answer 2

It is easy compared to what it use to be. I originally joined back in '96 and it was actually pretty tough. Still could get hit back then. I just went through tanker school alittle over a year ago and I basically had to do basic training all over again and this time around I was so disappointed to see what the army did. I can't believe how easy these new privates have it. You cannot smoke or drink though. Accordint to army regulations you only require 4 hrs of sleep a night. Now that means it doesn't have to be all at the same time either. Yes it is constant pressure and the only time off you get is when you are sleeping or at church. Now to punish you there's alot they do. They can smoke you, basically means exercise, but to the point you are hurting and just want to quit. Or extra duty.

Answer 3

It's not that bad. If you are in decent shape, and can handle a little bit of stress, then you'll do fine. For the first few weeks, it's very intense, but as training progresses, things get easier. All you have to do is pay attention, do what you are told, and stay motivated, and you'll graduate head and shoulders above the rest. As far as f***ing up, they'll just make you do push ups and yell at you. It's not really that bad. Oh and Mark is full of crap, under NO circumstances are they allowed to hit you and you do get more than three hours of sleep per night.

Answer 4

If you are in reasonable shape the physical aspect will be challenging but not overly difficult. The days are long with very few timeouts but the longer you are there the more time you get. The hardest part for me was being constanly around people (some not very likeable) and having no privacy. If you f**k up they cant do much but yell and force you to do push ups or some other exercise. This happens to everyone there at some point. Like any new experience it is difficult. My attitude was just to make it through.

Answer 5

Its really tough now that we are at war with Iraq. You won't be able to smoke, nore can you use the patch. You usually get about 3 hours sleep, with the rest spent training under very stressful conditions. The drill sergeants are allowed to hit you again, so stand by for some physical abuse.

Good luck. I hope you don't get killed in Iraq.

Answer 6

i don't really know, but somebody told me they make you fight with aliens in Roswell, and then they take you and leave you in the center of a volcano in an island and you have to build a ship or something and go to Irak and kill insurgents, 1000 to be exact, and then dance the achy,breaky heart like 2100 times,later they give you a chimichanga to get energy, later they put you in a cage with a gorila, a tiger and a shark at the same time, you have to do a drawing while fighting, then make you squeak like a freak, and if you screw all this, they put you in a room with the pic of Rossie O'donell and loud music by Kenny G for 2 months.

Think about it ,pal, is not worth it.

Answer 7

It all depends on how hard you make it, if you have a strong will and u r determind than you can make it easy, but if u r scared then it can be very difficult. They can't hit u although they will make u do a bunch of phisicle things if mess up,like push ups etc.

Answer 8

If you have to ask these questions, then you are not ready to go! When you are ready, you won't care about how hard it might be or how long! Army training is a piece of cake, girls get through dude!

Answer 9

The American is easy. If you went to Russian army then you would have a problem. Basic drills are very easy here.